


Witness

by mrstater



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Male Friendship, Marriage, Pre-Canon, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-12
Updated: 2013-06-12
Packaged: 2017-12-14 19:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/840371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrstater/pseuds/mrstater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What does Jorah's liege-lord make of his marriage?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Witness

There was no disputing that Jorah Mormont looked as happy as ever Ned had seen him. The Lord of Bear Island stood in the Sept of Lannisport and spoke his marriage vows in a clear and steady voice to his Lady Lynesse, resplendent in the silver and white of House Hightower as the jeweled morning sun beamed down on them from a stained glass window above. Ned almost regretted--no, _did_ regret--the words he'd felt it his duty as Jorah's liege lord to speak when the knight came to him at break of day, apparently still drunk--on the previous day's wine or glory or love, Ned could not be certain--and announced that he was, that very morn, to wed.  
  
 _"Surely you jape, old friend," Ned said. "Yesterday you broke nine lances against Ser Jaime Lannister, and today you marry--"  
  
"Lady Lynesse Hightower," Jorah cut him off. "My Queen of Love and Beauty."  
  
"So she was," Ned said, chuckling a little, "but that gives you no obligation to make her your lady wife."  
  
"No, but love does."  
  
Ned's smile faltered at that. "The lady returns your fervent affections?"  
  
"Aye." Jorah clapped Ned on the shoulder with a hand as broad and heavy as the bears' of Mormont's island home must be. "In truth," he added, sheepish, "it was the lady who proposed marriage to me."  
  
"I see."  
  
Now it was Jorah whose face pulled into a frown, his brows knitting together with an almost pained expression, as if he'd sobered slightly. "It has long been my wish--the wish of the Old Bear--that I marry again, and father sons and heirs. Do you not agree that this is good, Lord Stark? Do you not wish me joy?"  
  
"It_ is _good that you should take a new wife to bear you children. But joy will not sustain a marriage, Ser Jorah. In truth, I must question whether your lord father, since you mentioned him, would agree that this is a prudent match."_  
  
The darkening of Jorah's face told Ned at once that he had made a fatal error in bringing Lord Jeor into his argument--and understanding began to dawn of the hitherto baffling bad blood that had been between father and son when the Jorah's father handed over his lordship to his heir and taken the Black.  
  
"My first bride was of my father's choosing," Jorah said. "A joyless marriage sustains neither of the parties in it. Nor produces children."  
  
Ned had wanted to retort that Lynesse Hightower was little more than a child herself, but he'd held his tongue, saying only that he would stand witness at the wedding, if Jorah wished it. Surprisingly, Jorah's effusive happiness returned as if there had been no quarrel between them at all, though Ned's mind did not change as he watched the bride and groom speak the seven promises and the seven vows to each other.  
  
That was the whole trouble, wasn't it? A young Southron girl who worshiped the new Southron gods, expected to be lady wife to a Northman. Cat would admonish him for being unfair; new gods and old, north and south had made successful marriages before this, she'd say, and smile in that way that made him smile back.  
  
He did not now smile, however. The difference between Tully and Stark was not so vast as that which existed between Hightower and Mormont. The she-bears would eat Lord Leyton's daughter alive…  
  
Or perhaps, Ned thought with growing alarm, it would be the other way around.  
  
They had reached the part of the marriage ceremony in which the cloaks were exchanged, and the bride now stood with her back to Jorah so that he could remove her cloth-of-silver bride's cloak with the white tower emblazoned on the back, and replace it with his own cloak of forest green and a black bear rampant. The tradition signified, of course, the bride coming out from the mantle of her father's protection and under her new husband's.  
  
But as Lynesse nuzzled her cheek against the fur collar of Jorah's cloak, then wheeled to throw her arms about his thick muscled neck and seal their bargain with a kiss, the fierce hungry gleam in her eye made Ned wonder whether it wasn't the Lord of House Mormont who was most sorely in need of protection.


End file.
